DMN
Is Big 12 in danger? Chuck Neinas, man who once saved conference, gives his take
Neinas, 90, is a decade removed from his year-long term as interim commissioner of the Big 12.
By Kevin Sherrington
6:00 AM on Jun 20, 2022
Chuck Neinas ran the Final Four, College World Series, Big Eight and the visionary outfit that wrested the TV remote from the hands of the NCAA, turning college football into a money-making machine in the process. He sat on the USOC’s board of directors and chaired the NCAA Olympic and International Relations Committee. No job was too big. DeLoss Dodds once called him “the best administrator I’ve seen in 30 years in college athletics.”
And Texas’ former athletic director made that proclamation before his old boss pulled off his greatest trick of all:
Bailed out the Big 12, even as lifeboats were being lowered.
Feel like trying it again, Chuck?
“No [expletive] way,” he said.
Neinas, a robust 90 and living with his wife in blissful retirement in Colorado, is a decade removed from his year-long term as interim commissioner of the Big 12. In case you’ve forgotten, the league had nearly fallen apart twice in the 15 months prior to his installation. A quarter of its membership had already jumped ship or was sneaking toward the railings. Given what seemed inevitable for the Big 12 at the time, yours truly prepared for the worst. Still got the obit around here somewhere.
By the time Neinas handed the reins to Bob Bowlsby in 2012, the league had been stabilized. Neinas got everyone to sign a grant-of-rights through 2025 that kept anyone else from leaving, because if they did, it meant forfeiting their TV revenues to the league. The agreements reassured FOX and CBS. Also helped that Neinas presided over the additions of TCU and West Virginia, the latter of which may not have been his finest moment, come to think of it.
But it all held together, and against all odds, at least until Texas and Oklahoma decided to walk.
Neinas — who has remained in touch because of his curiosity and work ethic, not to mention a consulting firm that once placed Mack Brown at Texas and Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and filled more vacancies than an Airbnb — doesn’t think the Big 12 is in any danger of going under this time. The additions of BYU, Houston, Cincinnati and UCF mean it will remain a viable league.
“Number one, they got the four best schools that were left,” he said. “There’s no argument. They don’t have the same marketability without OU and Texas, but it’s going to be a strong conference, and I think they will play very good and entertaining football. And in basketball, the Big 12 will be even better. They are not going to be any softer than the Pac-12 or ACC.
“What is going to screw things up is the TV contract that the Big Ten and SEC are going to have compared to the rest.”
Just guessing, but think somewhere in the neighborhood of $20-$30 million more per school.
Instead of just the haves and have-nots in D1, we will shortly see a middle class, where the Big 12 will reside in perpetuity.
So no 64-school consortium of 16-team super conferences and a divorce from the NCAA? Not with the money the SEC and Big Ten will be bagging, Neinas said. They’ll have no desire to divide it any further. Meaning expansion by the other leagues is probably moot.
As for growing the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, Neinas thinks it’s a “done deal,” despite the fact the Big Ten and ACC gave it the kibosh in favor of an eight-team model instead. Neinas finds the ACC’s stance ironic. A bigger field stands to benefit that league’s prospects the most. But the ACC, Pac 12 and Big Ten still said no, and because it required a unanimous vote before the contract expires in 2026, that was that.
“The fact that you’ve got to get a unanimous vote is ridiculous,” Neinas said. “You can’t even get a unanimous vote on adjournment.”
So why is a 12-team model a done deal?
“That’s what the SEC wants,” Neinas said. “And the Big Ten, too. Unfortunately, the Big Ten has a new commissioner.
“If Jim Delany was still there, it’d be done.”
Funny what a connected commissioner can do. Of course, sometimes matters are beyond even the brightest minds. Like when the old Southwest Conference came to an end. The popular opinion is that Texas got tired of dragging around all the have-nots. Neinas, who was in the room, says it was all ESPN. The Big Eight and SWC had decided to sell their TV rights jointly, and ESPN was agreeable. But the only schools it wanted from the SWC were Texas and Texas A&M.
Next thing you know, the governor and lieutenant governor intervene, and Texas Tech and Baylor win reprieves.
The Big 12 was a big-league operation, too, at least until the defections. Neinas objected to A&M’s exit at the time because it weakened the league, and the Aggies left their roots in a local league. But at least they’re competitive.
“The ones you gotta question are Missouri and Nebraska,” he said. “Do you know why Missouri is in the East and not the West? LSU and Alabama wouldn’t vote to take them unless they put them in the East. Who in the SEC cares about Missouri? And Nebraska’s program has gone south. Just think if A&M and Nebraska and Missouri hadn’t left the Big 12. You can forget Colorado.
“Just think. Oklahoma and Texas probably wouldn’t be leaving now.”
Nothing to be done about that. Just like NIL. The NCAA can’t impose any parameters, Neinas said, because of anti-trust concerns.
“I don’t know what they can do, to be honest,” he said.
And if Chuck Neinas doesn’t know what to do, who does? He has “great concerns” for college athletics, but, for the first time in more than 60 years, he’s not in charge of anything anymore. He put in his time, and he enjoyed it, but it’s someone else’s responsibility now.
He claims he doesn’t know the identity of the next Big 12 commissioner. Frankly, I don’t know whether to believe him. He says no one’s asked for his advice. If that’s true, someone ought to. For that matter, somebody should offer him the job straight up. Worked out pretty well last time. Maybe you could catch him on a day he’s bored. But if his wife answers, hang up.
